Easy With You
Page 9
“Gotta sleep.”
“I need an ambulance—” I hear Jordan’s voice call for the ambulance, and I can feel Asher’s amazing hands slip under me and lift me against him. God, I love his arms. There is nothing better than being in his arms.
“Love you,” I whisper into his neck.
“God, I love you too, baby. You’re going to be okay.”
I smile, relieved, and I can’t fight it anymore. I’m so heavy.
* * * *
“Open those gorgeous eyes, baby.”
My head hurts. I can’t move. It feels like I’m moving through water. What happened? Was I in an accident?
And then it all comes crashing back. Colin, knocking me out, evil, telling me about the girls.
He’s going to kill me!
I lash out, struggling to move, but when I open my eyes, it’s Asher holding me, his mouth grim and eyes hard.
“Asher?”
“You’re safe, Lila. You’re okay. Shhh.”
The tears come fast and hard and I collapse against him as he joins me on the hospital bed, holding me tight, crooning to me as I cry out the fear.
“I was so scared,” I whisper.
“About ten years have been taken off my life today,” he agrees and plants his lips on my head. “You’re so fucking smart, Lila. Calling Kate was genius.”
“It worked?”
“Perfectly. She called me and we traced your phone. That’s how we found you.”
“Thank God.” I hold onto him tightly. “Colin?”
“In custody, bragging about his victims. He’s going away for a very long time.”
I nod, suddenly sad for him too. “He’s just a kid.”
“He’s a fucking murderer, Lila.”
“I know.” I frown and pull back so I can see Asher’s face. “Thank you, for finding me. For rescuing me.”
“I will always find you,” he replies and wipes my tears away with his thumbs. “God, Lila, I was so afraid that I wouldn’t find you in time. It was the most helpless, worthless feeling in the world. You’ve become one of the two most important people in my life. I can’t lose you.”
“I’m right here.” I grip on to his wrists. “Asher, I love you. I was so sad that I might not get to tell you that. I know it happened fast, and it seems crazy, but I am so in love with you and Casey both, and the thought of not having you in my life is…devastating.”
“Ah sweetheart.” He kisses my forehead, then my lips. “I love you.”
“Can I come in?” Casey asks from the doorway.
“Of course.” I grin at the sweet girl as she walks to the bed and climbs right up with me, as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.
“Are you okay?” she asks with wide, worried eyes.
“I’m still a little groggy, but I’m doing much better.”
“Daddy was scared,” she whispers to me and I feel Asher grin beside me.
“I was scared too,” I reply and brush her pretty red hair over her shoulder. “But I’m fine.”
“Okay.” She suddenly frowns. “When can you come home?”
I blink rapidly at the question. Home. But the townhouse that Asher and Casey share isn’t my home.
“In a few hours,” Asher replies. “As soon as the stuff making her tired is out of her body.”
“You can take me to my apartment,” I say softly, secretly scared to death of staying even one minute in that place alone.
“Why?” he asks, sincerely puzzled.
“It’s my home.”
“No it isn’t,” Casey interrupts.
I simply look between both of these people that I’ve come to love so much. Asher takes my hand and kisses my knuckles.
“Home is where we are, Lila.”
I feel tears fill my eyes and try to blink them away.
“Don’t you want to stay with us?” Casey asks.
“Of course,” I reply and kiss her cheek. “Of course I do.”
“But you’re not staying in the spare bedroom anymore,” Asher informs me.
“Of course.” I grin and am suddenly swept up in Asher’s strong arms, held close to his chest, and I hold my arms out for Casey, who happily joins us.
Home.
Home is where they are.
Epilogue
One Year Later
~Asher~
She’s in my arms, which is exactly where she belongs, and where I intend to keep her for about the next sixty years. The music is soft and slow. Twinkling lights are in the trees overhead, the ancient oak trees are heavy with Spanish moss, and about fifty of our nearest and dearest are looking on as I dance with my wife for the first time.
“I’m so glad we had the wedding here,” Lila murmurs happily. “It was so nice of Kate to hook up with a family that has a gorgeous bed and breakfast in the bayou.”
“So nice of her,” I agree with a smirk. “You make me laugh.”
“I’ll make you laugh for a long time,” she says sweetly. Her long hair is swept back from her face, and the dress she’s in is amazing.
I know that ten years from now I won’t remember exactly what it looked like, but I’ll remember that she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.
“You’re a good dancer,” she says.
“Those lessons paid off,” I reply and roll my eyes. “Why did we do the lessons again?”
“Because it was fun, and so we could dance here like this.”
“I don’t need lessons to dance with my wife.”
Her smile is bright and wide, and makes the breath catch in my lungs.
“You say the sweetest things. Is that going to stop now that I’m the ball and chain?”
I chuckle and kiss her forehead, breathing her in. “You’re not the ball and chain.”
“Battle-ax?”
“No.”
“The old lady?”
“Stop.” I kiss her lightly, earning applause from our family and friends. “You’re the best part of my life, Delila. From day one, life has been so easy with you. You fell into my lap on that plane, and since that moment, all I could see, all I wanted, was you.”
“You saved me,” she whispers in return. “And I don’t mean from Colin.”
“I know.”
She leans in and lays her cheek on my chest, breaking the hold we learned in class, and we’re just swaying back and forth now, under the twinkling lights, in the fresh night air of the bayou, and nothing has ever felt so right in my life.
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* * * *
My head whips up to stare at Eli. He shoves his hands in his pockets and swears under his breath as he hangs his head then glances back up at me, looking at me like he doesn’t really want to be here, and he’s not quite sure if he likes me.
“You don’t have to stay,” I inform him stiffly.
“I don’t expect you to work today at all, from here or the office.”
“Why ever not?” I lean back in the chair and frown up at him. “You’re paying me to work.”
“You’ve traveled all morning, Kate. Settle in. Eat something. In fact, let me take you out to eat something.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary.”
“I do.” He removes his suit jacket after taking his sunglasses out of the inside pocket and drapes it over the back of the sofa. He rolls the sleeves of the white shirt that molds over his muscled torso all the way up to his elbows, unbuttons the top two buttons, and removes his soft blue tie. “That’s better. Go change into something more comfortable, and I’ll feed you the best jambalaya you’ve ever had.”
“I’ve never had jambalaya before,” I reply with a raspy voice. I can’t tear my eyes off his broad shoulders.
“This will ruin you for all other jambalaya; I promise you.”
I frown and meet his gaze, trying to figure him out. “Are you sure?”
He nods and waits expectantly. I have a feeling not many people say no to Eli Boudreaux.
“I’m not going to sleep with you.” The words are out of my mouth before I can reel them back in. I feel my face flame, but I tilt my chin up and square my shoulders firmly.
“I didn’t invite you to,” he replies calmly, but his eyes are full of humor.
I nod and walk back to the bedroom to change into a light summer dress, slather on sunblock with SPF 4000 to protect my white, freckled skin, and then rejoin Eli, who is now looking out my windows.
“You’re always looking out windows,” I remark with a smile. He turns to me and his eyes heat as he looks me up and down, and I suddenly feel very exposed.
“You’ll burn, cher.”
“I’m wearing sunblock.”
“Do you always argue?” he asks.
“I don’t argue.”
He holds my gaze for a moment and then tosses his head back and laughs, shakes his head, and leads me out into the hot afternoon.
“Let’s go this way first.” He turns to the left and rests his hand on the small of my back again, ever the gentleman, walking me down Royal Street. If you’d asked me yesterday if I thought I’d be walking in the French Quarter with the sexiest man I’d ever seen by my side, I would have told you to consult a doctor.
And Eli Boudreaux is sexy. But he’s not mine, and he never will be. He’s my boss, and he’s being kind.
I take a deep breath, determined to pull my head out of the gutter and enjoy New Orleans, when Eli pulls me into a trendy shoe and accessory shop called Head Over Heels.
“Shoes!” I exclaim, already salivating. Okay, so the man is showing me shoes. I might sleep with him after all.
“Hats,” he corrects me.
“Holy crap, what are you doing here?” A woman with short, dark hair and full lips smiles from behind the counter.
“Kate needs a hat,” Eli replies and grins as his sister launches herself into his arms and holds on tight.
“Been a minute,” she whispers in his ear in the same New Orleans drawl. Eli grins.
“You saw me at Mama’s last Sunday.”
“Been a minute,” she replies and steps back, smiling at me. “Hi, Kate. It’s good to see you again.”
“You too, Charly.” I’m pulled into another hug—the Boudreaux family is an affectionate bunch, and the middle sister, Charlotte, is no different from the rest.
“What can I do for you two?”
“Kate needs a hat,” Eli repeats.
“I do?”
“Oh, yes, sugar, you do,” Charly replies with a nod. “We need to keep the sun off your face and shoulders. Let’s see…” She leads us to the back of the shop and pulls three hats off the wall, all wide-brimmed and pretty. “I think green is your color, with that beautiful auburn hair and your pretty green eyes.”
“Thank you, but this hair is about to be a curly tangled mess with all this humidity.”
“I know the feeling. I’ll make a list of hair products to use while you try these on.” She jogs back to her counter as I plop the first hat on my head. It’s pink, not quite as widely brimmed as the green, and makes me look like a mushroom.
“Try the green one,” Eli suggests, but instead I pull on one with a rainbow of colors. It looks like a box of Crayolas exploded all over it. Eli just watches me in the mirror with humor-filled eyes and crosses his arms over his impressive chest. “You do have beautiful hair.”
“Thank you.” His jaw ticks. If he doesn’t like giving out compliments, why does he say anything at all?
“Oh no, dawlin’, the green one,” Charly says as she rejoins us. I smirk as I put the green hat on and sigh as I realize that she and Eli were right.
“Loo
ks like this is the winner,” I say with a grin. “I’ll take it.” I pull my wallet out of my handbag, but Eli lays his hand over mine and shakes his head.
“Bill me,” he tells Charly, who smiles and nods happily, while handing me a list of hair products to try, waving at us as Eli leads me back out into the heat. “Feel better?”
“Hmm,” I murmur, but, oh, God, yes, it feels so much better. “Thanks for the hat.”
“You are welcome,” he replies, his accent making me squirm again. I met this man just a few hours ago, and so far, everything he does makes me squirm.
Not good. Not good at all.
“Tell me about yourself,” I say, surprising myself. All I know is, I need to get my brain on something other than the mass of testosterone walking next to me. We cross the street, me on the outside, and Eli immediately trades places with me, tucking me next to him away from the street. “Chivalry isn’t dead,” I whisper.
“No, dawlin’, it’s not.” He flashes me a quick smile before leading me to a café with beautiful courtyard seating.
“It’s surprisingly cool in here,” I murmur after we’re seated.
“The trees keep it cool,” the waitress says with a smile. “Need a minute with the menu?”
“Do you eat seafood?” Eli asks me.
“Yes,” I reply.
“Good. We’ll both have the seafood jambalaya, please.”
The waitress nods and walks away, leaving us alone.
“Now, tell me more about your plans to catch the person stealing from my company.”
“You didn’t answer my question first,” I reply, and butter a piece of the bread the waitress just set down for us.